


In the End, the Sun still Rose

by TheLunarWriter



Series: Seven Days to the River Rhine [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: 1980s, Alternate History, Alternate Nations, Angst, Cold War, Drama, Gen, Hetalia Countries Using Human Names, Human & Country Names Used (Hetalia), Human Names Used, Implied Relationships, Multi, NATO, No Romance, Nuclear Weapons, Post-War, Referenced Battles, Soviet Union, United States, Warsaw Pact, World War III, treaty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:13:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27693962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLunarWriter/pseuds/TheLunarWriter
Summary: It is December 10th, 1985 and the War is finally coming to a close. Decades of tension durning the Cold War had finally heated up and exploded into a new brutal war, the horror and bloodshed of which rivaled that of the First and Second World Wars.But now it is finally coming to end. The Warsaw Pact, struggling with internal issues, mounting casualties and a string of losses, had finally surrendered to the NATO Alliance after years of fighting.Now comes the Treaty of Zürich to cement the new peace and mark the beginning of a new Era, with Erika being the lucky - or depending on how one veiws it, unlucky - soul to read it to the war torn nations of Europe.
Relationships: Austria & Liechtenstein (Hetalia), Austria & Switzerland (Hetalia), Belarus & Russia (Hetalia), Belgium & Luxembourg & Netherlands (Hetalia), Estonia & Latvia & Lithuania (Hetalia), France & Germany (Hetalia), Hungary & Prussia (Hetalia), Liechtenstein & Switzerland (Hetalia), Poland & Ukraine (Hetalia)
Series: Seven Days to the River Rhine [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2025373
Kudos: 7





	In the End, the Sun still Rose

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! A few things of note first- 
> 
> Uno: This is my first fic, so I'd really love any and all critism, thoughts and suggestions you have for this fic so I can get better at writing. This is also a multichapter story, so even if I'm busy with irl stuff, do expect more chapters in the future.
> 
> Dos: This fic takes place in an alternate history and does bend some realism for the sake of story (ie no nuclear war) but is otherwise trying to be realistic and grounded, so just keep that in mind if you have any questions 
> 
> Tres: For now at least, I do not plan for there to be any romantic ships beyond lightly hinted at things. This isn't because I don't like them, in fact I love them, but rather because I want the focus to be more on the characters and world rather than any romantic couple. However, a caveat there is that I may add in romantic ships IF I believe it won't detract from the story and y'all really do want it
> 
> Anyhow, to the fic!

**December 10th, 1985 - Zürich, Switzerland**

Erika, the national and international representation of the Principality of Liechtenstein, was sitting alone in an empty hallway. Her body was tense and she seemed to be both completely tired and totally alert at the same time.  
'This is it.' She thought to herself with a mix of nervousness and relief. 'After two years of pointless fighting and bloodshed in the millions that wiped cites off the map, this would truly and finally be it. The war would draw to a close and officially end today, though the fighting waned to mere skirmish durning the previous month, not a moment too soon really.'

She cautiously looked up at a plain clock hanging up on the wall, though what she was cautious of she did not know. "You can do this" She gently told herself with a deep breath "This will help make the world a better place". She stood up, taking a moment to stretch before heading into the meeting room.  
For such an important treaty, the room was surprisingly simple and bare. All there really was of note, besides the neatly ordered chairs and tables, was a few old paintings on the wall. 

She looked around a bit more, finding the only two people she expected to find this early next to each other at a table. The first was her adoptive brother and the representation of Switzerland, Basch, a kind, gentle and empathetic person who had a harsh and cold shell, one casted from the countless battles he had took in. The second was the closest thing she had to a father and the representation of Austria, Roderick, a thoughtful, caring and understanding person who wrapped himself in indifferent formalities and old royal customs. 

They were both close to each other, in terms of the immediate physical sense and an ancient emotional sense, even if they often tried to deny the latter. Basch was currently tending to Roderick's bandages, making sure they were secure, fresh and comfortable with the few minutes they had left before the meeting began. Roderick himself seemed relived in some way at the coming treaty and Basch's prescience, even if neither of them spoke beyond simple short questions about the comfort of the bandages.

She couldn't help but internally wince as she thought about his injuries. They always madr awful and vivid memories of getting the news of him being dragged into the war go through her head.

_Erika was at her home in her capital, Vaduz, knitting and playing music in a largely vain attempt to ease her nerves. She then saw it in her peripheral vision again and felt her nerves go on edge just a little more, her god forsaken calendar reading a horrific thing. June 6th, 1983AD. Just yesterday, on June 5th, another European war had began and millions were already dead' she grimly thought to herself, still recalling the news. Tensions had been rising in Europe since 1945, being pushed to the brink in the 1980s and just yesterday they had snapped into war. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization had launched preemptive nuclear strikes all across the Vistula river, presumably in an attempt to cut off the Soviets from Eastern Europe, and starting what was, for all intensive proposes, a Third World War. At least she could take some comfort in the fact she was part of the Third World and therefore had no side to pick._

_Suddenly, her door flew open, causing her to jump in a panic and ruin the cloth she was knitting. "Ms. Liechtenstein!" The messenger called out to her in a panic. "What is it?" She asked with some fear, throwing aside her now ruined knitted cloth. "You need to come with me now, you are going to be heading with Franz-" "-Wait what why? What's going on?-" "-Haven't you gotten the news? Austria has been bombed!"_

_She went pale as bone and froze, taking a moment to process what she had heard. "What?! When, how, why?!" She cried in a newfound panic, wanting to run but paralyzed in fear. "Just today! Vienna, Graz, Weiner Neustadt, Liz, St. Pöltea, they're all gone! The Hungarians bombed them with nuclear weapons and now they are now invading!". She felt sick, how many were dead? How could Hungary do this? Did his neutrality mean nothing? Would she and her brother be next?  
She eventually snapped out of her horrified terror enough to move, quickly racing and following the messenger to a car. They were going to head to her brother's most likely, with his defensive geography, militarization and numerous fallout bunkers. If anything happened to her nation, she would be safe there, at least physically speaking. She prayed this god forsaken war would end..._

Erika shook her head, snapping out of her mind. 'Focus, be strong' she thought to herself with a growing will 'you need to see this through, to end this pointless fighting'. She went over to the two, somewhat sad she would break their moment, but the bloodshed must end. "How are you two doing?" She asked, her voice strained but determined and kind and her posture tense but controlled. "...better than before" Roderick replied, his voice hoarse and weak yet still holding some scorched shard of old Austrian nobility. "That is good, the meeting will begin soon just so you know" She said, the two of them exchanging a nod of acknowledgment. She then went and sat at her seat, looking up at the clock, every second seeming to get longer. 

She looked over to see Basch and Roderick wrapping up their small moment, given neither wanted the others to see it. The clock struck 10:55AM, in a few minutes the nations would come in and begin the meeting would begin. Right on cue, the first group of nations came in, them all being part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Then came in the second group, made up of all the former Warsaw Pact members and former Soviet Union. It wasn't hard to see how this war effected both sides, many of them sickly and drained from constant conflict, wrapped in gauze and casts from wounds they had sustained in the war.

The air seemed to fill with a wild mix of unspoken emotions, terror, fury, sorrow, guilt, relief, joy and more that words could not hope to describe. She felt somewhat ill as she looked at them all, being hit particularly hard everytime she saw someone she knew well. Gilbert and Elizabeth were close together, seeming to support each other's now damaged bodies and keep their emotions in check. Ekaterina was with Feliks, seeming to try and comfort his appalling state even as she looked like death. On the other side of the former Iron Curtain, Ludwig seemed all but empty and damaged while Francis stuck close to him to offer some sort of comfort. Anri clung close to her brothers, all of them holding each other up from their wounds. 

She found it suffocating to see all of this, but she pushed aside her own complaints on it. This pointless brutal war must end, if only for them, that was the first priority that trumpeted all. "Everyone! Head to your seats and do not start anything, the final meeting will begin shortly!" Basch shouted at them, with groans and mumbles being heard but no objection being made as they sat down. She went over to him, preparing herself to speak to all of the war torn nations, being choosen over Basch due to her better speaking abilities.

The clock struck 11AM. "Good after morning everyone" She began with a strong and clear voice, the fact and way she was speaking clearly surprising some nations. "Today is the day we end this pointless and brutal war. I will not ramble about the horror of this war nor the value of peace, at least not now. While scholars, politicians and generals can endlessly drone on and debate about death counts, the destruction or atrocities committed, we all know this far too well by heart. We live, feel, suffer through it in a way no human could possibly comprehend, and now it is time we do something about it." She took in a breath, seeing the various emotions silently running through the nations faces that made her heart lurch. Shs steadied her nerves and quickly buried her grim look under a professional no-nonsense face, she could not let her emotions get to her now.

"As such, the terms of the treaty will be as so; Territorially, the Federal Republic of Germany shall annex the former German Democratic Republic, which is now and will forever be totally dissolved."  
Gilbert seemed shaken to his core, simply slumping in his chair while Elizabeth brought him closer. Ludwig's face was totally unreadable, not showing anything beyond grim acklowfgment.  
"The former Socialist Republic of Romania is to give up territory to the former Hungarian People's Republic."  
One would expect some sort of victory to appear on Elizabeth's face with this steal from her personal rival, but after so much death and destruction on her soil, she cared little for such a vain pyrrhic win. Vlad himself seemed numb and was silent, simply looking at his hands, as if still processing what had happened over those two years. 

"The former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is to be dissolved into the fully independent and autonomous nation-states of the Federal Republic of Russia, the National Republic of Ukraine, the Belarusian National Republic, the Moldavian Republic, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Estonia."  
She calmly said, keeping her voice steady and trying to not look up to meet their faces. But ultimately, morbid curiosity and dread at what this may mean for them forced her eyes to look. Ivan seemed devastated, not so much for the death of the USSR, but more so for the fact he would now truly be alone. Natalya tried to comfort her brother, not that she looked as if she was in any better state than him. The others seemed deeply conflicted and saddened by all of this. They had wanted independence and sovereignty, that was well known open secret, but must it had been at this cost? Must it had costed so many lives and need such devastation? Was this even freedom, or just a changing of the power that ruled them?  
She shook away her eyes back to the paper.

"The National Republic of Ukraine is to secede land South of the Moldavian Republic to the aforementioned nation. The Federal Republic of Russia is to secede the Kaliningrad Oblast to the Polish Republic"  
Timur seemed to try to gain some vain comfort from the land secession, but it was clear the loss of the war was too great for that to even be bitter-sweet. Ekaterina looked blank, as if the loss of her land was just the cherry on top of a long list of pains amd suffering. Feliks looked like he wanted to boast about taking Ivan's territory, but was in no mood or state for boasting or cheering. Ivan himself seemed unphased, not out of apathy, but out of the simple fact he had already lost so much already.

"And finally, Belarusian Nation Republic is to secede land to Republic of Lithuania, the former People's Republic of Bulgaria is to secede land to both Republic of Turkey and Hellenic Republic, and the Federal Republic of Russia is to return all territory seized from the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Estonia"  
She said, taking in a breath for herself and giving a small pause to let what had been said settle.

Natalya weakly looked over at Tolys, her face unreadable to which he froze at before looking away, his face just as unreadable as hers. Bogdan seemed to just be even more defeated, leaning on Vlad for support, and it seemed Vlad understood as he made no move to push him away. Edward, Tolys and Ravis seemed to want to celebrate the return of their land, but with so much death and destruction, it made far more bitter-sweet then they would like

Erika couldn't help but feel her heart ache, so much suffering and so many thoughts and emotions all crashing in so quickly. She turned to Basch silently, a few looks and head movements being all they needed to say. Basch stood up and went beside her, taking a breath before shouting "Everyone! Five minute break! Be quick and don't waste any time!" to all of the nations before sighing. Erika silently thanked him, and given the various faces and small noises from the other nations, it seemed they were equally grateful for this pause.

**Author's Note:**

> At the behest of my beta-readers, here is a character name list
> 
> (SU) Moldova - Timur  
> (SU) Latvia - Raivis Galante  
> (SU) Estonia - Eduard von Bock  
> (SU) Lithuania - Tolys Laurinaitis  
> (SU) Ukraine - Ekaterina 'Katyusha' Chernenko  
> (SU) Belarus - Natalya Arlovskaya  
> (SU) Russia - Ivan Braginsky 
> 
> (WP) Bulgaria - Bogdan Nikola  
> (WP) Czechia - Tereza Jelinkova  
> (WP) Slovakia - Jakub Murgaš  
> (WP) Poland - Feliks Łukasiewicz  
> (WP) Hungary - Erszébet Héderváry  
> (WP) East Germany - Gilbert Beilschmidt  
> (WP) Romania - Vladimir 'Vlad' Popescu
> 
> (NT) America - Alfred F. Jones  
> (NT) England - Arthur Kirkland  
> (NT) Canada - Matthew Williams  
> (NT) France - Francis Bonnefoy  
> (NT) Portugal - Afonso  
> (NT) Luxemburg - Gabriel  
> (NT) Netherlands - Han  
> (NT) Belgium - Anri Janssens  
> (NT) Turkey - Sadik  
> (NT) Greece - Heracles Karpusi  
> (NT) North Italy - Feliciano Vargas  
> (NT) South Italy - Lovino Vargas  
> (NT) Norway - Lukas  
> (NT) Iceland - Emil  
> (NT) West Germany - Ludwig  
> (NT) Denmark - Mathias
> 
> (TW) Switzerland - Basch Zwingli  
> (TW) Liechtenstein - Erika 'Lili' Vogel  
> (TW) Austria - Roderich Edelstein


End file.
